Alison shivered, pulling her coat closer to her as she walked into the house. "It's freezing out there."
"Where'd you go?" Rafe asked as he walked into the room.
Alison held up several sales papers and envelopes. "I just realized we forgot to check the mail today."
"Oh. Anything good?"
Alison shook her head. "No. Just junk and bills. Oh wait, we got a Christmas card from Eve and Ian." Alison opened the envelope with her nail and took the card out. It had a beautifully decorated Christmas tree on it. "Oh, it's actually an invitation. Looks like they're having a Christmas party next Saturday."
"Daddy!!"
Rafe and Alison looked towards Katrina's room at the sound of her screams.
"I'll get her," Rafe said. "Probably having a nightmare or something."
Rafe walked down the hallway to Katrina's room and opened her door. His eyes adjusted to the light of her nightlight. "Princess?" At first, he didn't see her, as Katrina was completely under the covers. But slowly, her little blonde head poked out from the layer of blankets.
Rafe had a good guess at what was bothering her. "Is he back?"
Katrina nodded. "I'm scared, Daddy."
Rafe walked over to the bed and sat down beside her. "Don't be scared. Daddy's here, and that's what a daddy's job is…to keep his little girl safe."
Katrina started to feel better already. She wasn't so scared of the monster when Daddy was here.
"Now, where was he last?"
Katrina pointed towards the window. "Over there, by the window. He tapped the glass, and then he went, 'Woo woo. Woo woo.'"
Rafe was sure it was just the wind she had heard, but his daughter had quite the imagination. She'd never believe it was just the wind.
"Well have no fear," Rafe said, standing up and walking towards the window. "If there's one thing monsters are afraid of the most, it's your dear old dad!"
Katrina smiled. Her daddy was the best at scaring away monsters that bothered her at night.
Rafe walked over to the window to investigate. He looked behind the toy box and around the curtains. "Well, he's not over here anymore."
"Look under the bed!"
Rafe got on the floor, lifting up the comforter to look under the bed. "All clear. Let me check that closet."
Katrina watched as her father walked over to the closet and opened the door. He kneeled down on the floor, sticking his head into the closet to investigate. Katrina looked on, holding on to her blanket tighter.
"AH HA!" Rafe bellowed, making a big production, pretending to grab something. He then turned around to his daughter with a big grin. "Got him."
"Yay! Thank you, Daddy!"
Rafe walked back over to Katrina, tucking her back under the covers. "He shouldn't be bothering you anymore tonight."
"'Cause he's afraid of you, Daddy."
"That's right. Goodnight Princess." Rafe gave his daughter a kiss on her forehead.
"Goodnight, Daddy."
Rafe paused at the doorway, seeing his daughter turn over in bed and closing her eyes. He quietly closed the door behind him.
"She okay?" Alison whispered, meeting Rafe in the hallway.
"She's fine. Monster problems. But I took care of it."
Alison smiled, wrapping her arms around Rafe. "Well lucky for her she has a slayer for a father."
"Trained to fight all forces of evil…real or imaginary."
"Well the imaginary I can handle. Let's just hope we never have to deal with the real ones again."
"You don't have to worry. You'd know I'd take care of it."
Alison smiled, moving close to Rafe and kissing him. "Come on. Now that she's in bed, I think we should do the same."
Rafe frowned. "Well that's a little disappointing. Sleep wasn't on my mind right now."
Alison grinned. "Who said anything about sleeping?" Alison took Rafe's hand, leading him to the bedroom.
"I want some more syrup!" Katrina begged, trying to reach the syrup bottle in the center of the table.
Rafe picked it up, squeezing some of it onto her plate. "Just a little bit. That's all you need."
"And when I finish all of this syrup, then I can have some more, Daddy?"
Alison walked into the kitchen, overhearing their conversation. "No, when you finish that syrup, you're getting ready for school. We're running late."
"I don't wanna go to school today."
"Well baby, I'd take you to work with me but I think you'd be bored all day." Alison kneeled down to tie Katrina's shoe, which had come loose for the second time this morning.
"No I wouldn't. I could help you bake some cakes and we could lick all the batter from the bowls, and then we could taste test all the cookies!"
Alison laughed. "Oh yeah, my customers would really like that!" she said sarcastically.
"So can I, Mommy?"
"No. Not today."
Katrina turned to her father. "Daddy, I wanna go to work with you!"
"Baby, I think Daddy's got some things to do today."
Rafe looked up from his newspaper. "Actually, I don't have that much to do today."
Katrina's eyes widened with excitement. "Can I spend the day with you, Daddy?!"
Rafe smiled. "Are you sure you don't want to go to preschool and play with all of your friends?"
"No. I don't wanna go to school today. I wanna spend the day with my daddy! Because I love my daddy!"
Well how could he say no to that? "Okay. It's just you and me today, Princess."
"Yay!"
"Okay, then! You two have fun." Alison leaned over and gave Rafe a kiss. "I'm going to head to work now. Maybe I won't be late today!" Alison leaned over and kissed Katrina's cheek. "Bye, baby."
"Bye, Mommy."
"Love you both!"
"Love you," Rafe said.
"Daddy?"
"What, Princess?"
Katrina pushed her plate closer to him. "More syrup!"
"Katrina, come on and get your coat. Let's get ready to go," Rafe called out, putting on his own coat and grabbing his wallet and keys.
Katrina ran into the living room, holding up a hairbrush. "No, Daddy. We can't leave yet. You haven't fixed my hair!"
Hair? He was supposed to fix her hair? "Katrina, didn't your mother already take care of that for you?"
Katrina shook her head no. "No, Daddy. You're supposed to do it today."
"Um, okay, come on." Rafe walked over to the couch, taking the hairbrush from his daughter.
Rafe hesitated as he began brushing her long, blonde hair. He really didn't know much about hair. Well, girls' hair anyway. All Rafe needed for his hair was a comb, but he could never figure out why it was necessary for Alison to spend a half hour on hers, or why she needed all kinds of hair products and gadgets for it.
This isn't so hard, Rafe thought to himself as he brushed Katrina's hair. It was longer hair than he was used to brushing, but he seemed to be getting the hang of it. Then suddenly, the brush hit a snag.
"Oww!"
"Oh, Princess! I'm sorry!"
"You gotta be careful with the tangles, Daddy. You're supposed to brush out all the knots."
"Sorry, Princess. I'm not as good at this like Mommy." Rafe started again, being as gentle he could, hoping he wouldn't pull on her hair anymore.
And finally, he was finished. "Okay, there we go. All done."
"No, Daddy. Now you've got to put my hair bows in." Katrina held up two elastic hair bows and placed them in his hand. "I want pigtails."
Pigtails? "You mean a ponytail?"
"No, it's like a ponytail on each side." Katrina grabbed some hair from each side of her head to show her father. "See? Pigtails."
"Oh. Okay. Gotcha." Rafe carefully separated her hair into two sections. He gathered one side, pulling it together and wrapping the bow around it.
"No, Daddy. You're doing it wrong. It's supposed to be high up. Like Mommy does it."
"Oh. Okay." Rafe attempted again, moving the section of hair closer to her ear. "Like that?"
"Yeah." Katrina began scraping the pink nail polish off her nails, wondering why Daddy was taking so long. Mommy never took this long to do her hair.
"Okay, I'm just about done." Rafe finished twisting the second hair bow around her hair. It was a little lopsided, and not exactly even with the other side, but it would have to do.
"Okay, grab your coat, Princess. Let's go."
"Where are we going, Daddy? To your work?"
"Yeah, we'll head over there later. But right now, I've got some errands to run."
"What's errands?"
"Zip your coat up. It's cold. An errand is just a place you have to go, or something you have to do."
Katrina stopped at the door, looking up at her father. "Uh oh."
"What's the matter?"
"I've got an errand to run!"
"Oh yeah?"
"I gotta go run to the bathroom!"
With that, Katrina unzipped her coat, threw it on the floor, tossed her gloves aside, and ran to the bathroom.
Rafe sighed. Now he was beginning to understand why Alison was always running so late.
The moment Lucy walked into the Recovery Room, she saw Katrina turn around in her seat and run to her.
"LUCY!" Katrina wrapped her arms around her legs.
"Well hey there, peanut! What are you doing here?"
"Hanging out with Daddy. We're gonna have cheeseburgers and fries for lunch!"
"Ooo, well good for you!"
"Come sit with us!" Katrina took Lucy's hand, leading her over to their table.
"Hey, cousin," Rafe said.
"Hey! It's so good to see you."
"Pull up a chair."
Lucy grabbed a chair from the unoccupied table next to theirs, then moved it over to sit with Rafe and Katrina.
"So what are you two up to today?"
"Daddy and me are spending the day together!"
"Well I can see that. I bet Daddy did you hair too, didn't he?"
"Yeah." Katrina moved closer to Lucy and whispered in her ear. "He doesn't know how to do hair very good."
Rafe had heard her comment anyway, as Katrina was a very loud whisperer. "Hey. I tried."
Lucy laughed. "Come here, let me fix it."
Katrina moved to sit in Lucy's lap, while Lucy fixed the lopsided pigtail.
"Here are your cheeseburgers and fries," the waitress said, sitting the food down on the table.
"Thank you," Rafe said to the waitress.
"Alright! I'm hungry!" Katrina added.
"Can I get you anything ma'am?" she asked Lucy.
"I'll have a salad and diet soda."
"Alright, I'll bring that in just a few minutes."
Katrina moved back to her seat, digging into her French fries.
Lucy turned to Rafe, seeing the sadness in his eyes. "Hey, I'm sorry I was in such a rush the other day on the phone. We really haven't had a chance to talk. Rafe, I'm so sorry about the center."
"Thanks, Lucy."
"When are they closing it down? I mean, we have some time, right?"
Rafe shook his head. "January first."
"The first? That soon?"
"Afraid so."
"Well that stinks!"
"I think I'll just go ahead and shut the center down early. Maybe after Christmas. I mean, it's not like the kids are going to be there anyway. They'll be with family. Going on trips. You know."
Lucy frowned. "You know what your problem is?"
Rafe looked up, a bit surprised at Lucy's tone of voice. "What?"
"You give up too easily! You're just going to sit there and throw in the towel?! Just give up? Come on! That youth center and those kids are important to you! And you're just going to let them take it away?"
"Well what am I supposed to do, Lucy?" Rafe asked, getting a bit defensive. "Go to Thomas Landon and say, "Hey, I know you want to put your drug company here and that making a lot of money is important to you, but could you not build it here after all? And while you're at it, maybe you could spare a few thousand dollars to fund the center? Thanks."
"No, that's not what I meant."
"Well, Lucy, please, enlighten me."
"Look, all I'm saying is that you can't just sit here on your butt and do nothing. Don't let that Landon what's his name win. You fight back! And you know what else?"
"What?"
"You've got to have faith. The impossible does happen. I'm proof of it."
"Oh yeah?"
"Definitely. I mean, come on, I thought I'd never marry Doc! But somehow, someway, the impossible happened! Who knows? Maybe this year, we'll get another Christmas miracle!"
Rafe smiled. If Lucy had only known what he'd went through to get them together. There were times when he thought getting Kevin and Lucy to walk down the aisle was impossible too, but he did it.
And of course, there were times when he thought it would be impossible for he and Alison to be together. But they did that too.
Maybe it wasn't so hopeless after all.
"Thanks, Lucy. I think I really needed to hear that."
Lucy smiled. "If you need my help with anything, you just let me know!'
Katrina wandered around the youth center, bored out of her mind.
Daddy was in his office, making a lot of phone calls, and doing a lot of stuff on his computer.
Katrina picked out a book from the shelf, then stepped inside her father's office.
"Daddy, will you read this to me?"
Rafe looked away from his computer screen. "Not right now, Princess. I've got some things to do."
"Daddy, I'm bored!"
"Why don't you go play? You can take out the toys on the shelves."
"But there's no kids to play with."
"The kids will be here soon. I'm sure until then, you can find something to do."
Katrina was about to protest, but the phone rang, and her father answered it.
Katrina sighed, walking out of the office and back to the playroom. She sat at the little round table, looking at the book she picked out.
And then, she heard voices. Were the kids here?
Katrina tossed the book aside, walking out of the room and peeking her head down the hallway. It was then that she saw them. Not children. Two men. Strangers. Katrina decided to watch quietly.
The first man was really tall, with dark hair. He didn't look too friendly.
The second man was shorter, but a lot bigger, and sort of bald. And he didn't look too friendly either. He followed the first man around.
"This place is a lot bigger than I thought," the first man said, taking a look at the entryway. Maybe we won't have to tear it down after all. We could use this space."
"Well the gymnasium section is going to have to come down," the second man added.
"Oh of course. But we could use this section of the building. Office space or something. Of course, then again, this building is pretty old. It might be better to just start off fresh. Besides, does this building have a strange smell to you?"
"Yeah. Like school or something. We can work on some plans this weekend."
The first man walked around the building, peering in and out of rooms. "Yeah, this'll have to come down. I can see it already. The expansion of Landon Pharmaceuticals is just beginning."
Katrina gasped. Where had she heard that before? Landon? And then she realized…he was the grinch! Well, she had to stop him then!
As the two men made their way down the hallway, Katrina stopped in front of them, holding her hands out and blocking their path. "No! You can't get by! Go away!"
Landon laughed. He had never been spoken to in that tone of voice by a little girl. He found it rather amusing. "Well hi there, Princess. I'm just looking around here, that's all. I can look around, right?"
Katrina became angrier. "No one can call me Princess but my daddy! And you better go away or my daddy's gonna beat you up! You're a grinch!"
Landon laughed even harder. He looked to the bald man. "Did she just call me a grinch?"
"My daddy says that's what you are and if you don't get out of here, you're gonna be sorry!"
Landon kneeled down to Katrina's level, giving her a cold look. "Well don't you have a smart mouth for such a small thing? You better be careful of what you say, little girl. Santa puts lumps of coal in the stockings of children with smart mouths."
"Don't you EVER speak to my daughter that way again," Rafe said, staring at the man angrily.
Katrina ran to her father, hugging his leg as she burst into tears. "Daddy! That man said Santa was gonna put coal in my stocking!"
Rafe scooped Katrina up into his arms, his eyes glaring at him. "Get out."
Landon smirked. "Look, I'm sorry I upset the kid. Kovich? Right? Thomas Landon." He offered his hand, but Rafe refused to accept.
"I know who you are."
"Well then you won't mind if I take a look around?"
Rafe moved in front of him, blocking his path. "Actually, I do mind. You're not welcome here."
"Well actually, for your information, this place belongs to me. So I'm entitled to look around."
"Not yet, you don't. If you want to look around, that's fine. But you won't do it on my time. Now you've made my daughter upset, and you've made me angry. And in just a few minutes, a busload of children will be arriving here and I really doubt they're going to want to see the man who intends to tear this place down. Get the hell out."
Landon sighed, giving his associate a frustrated look. "Come on, let's get out of here. I hate kids," he muttered, walking out of the door.
"You okay, Princess?"
Katrina sniffed. "I don't like that man."
"Me neither. I'm sorry he made you so upset."
"Is Santa really gonna put coal in my stockings because I was mean to him?"
"Oh, no! No, Princess! Don't you listen to him. Santa is not going to put coal in your stocking. In fact, if anyone is going to get a lump of coal, it's him. Okay?"
"Yeah! He'll get a big fat piece of coal!"
"You want me to read that book to you now?"
Katrina nodded.
Rafe kissed his daughter on her cheek, hating to see his daughter still so upset. He wasn't sure if he could save the center, but he was certain that no matter what happened, he was going to make sure his little girl was happy.